What if there was one simple thing you could do that would improve your life expectancy by 80%? You’d probably do it, right? What if that one thing was a gift you could give to prevent someone close to you from getting seriously hurt or worse? You wouldn’t think twice about giving that gift.

February is the month for Valentine’s Day and, appropriately, American Heart Month. A perfect time to give that gift – a gift that can keep you or someone close to you from experiencing the fatal impact of heart disease.

The truth is that 80% of heart disease and stroke events may be prevented through improved awareness and lifestyle changes. Therefore the gift you can give is as simple as educating yourself and others about the warning signs of heart disease and stroke.

Cardiovascular disease is the single largest killer of women in the world, claiming the life of one woman every 80 seconds.

Awareness is a gift and the key to changing these facts and figures. For example, few people know that the warning signs of cardiac problems for women are different than those for men. Low awareness means that the first sign of a cardiovascular problem for a woman is her only – and last – warning.

Four years ago, I lost my 49-year-old wife, Shalini, to an unexpected heart attack. I have since dedicated myself to understanding heart disease, and started the Shalini Maripuri Foundation which is dedicated to the awareness, detection, and prevention of heart disease in women.

Improving health outcomes is a driving force behind our work at Nuance. But it’s much more than a worthy business or technology-development goal. It is a deeply personal mission for me, especially when it comes to women’s heart health.

You too can make it your mission to help the loved ones in your life – or maybe even yourself – by learning about the symptoms of heart disease and your family’s health history. Talk to your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about healthy lifestyle choices and medical checkups – and help spread the message.

Your efforts to do so could be the one simple thing that makes a heartfelt difference – and one gift that could last a lifetime.

Subscribe to the What's next blog

Thank you, your preferences have now been saved.

Follow us

More articles you might like

About Satish Maripuri

Satish Maripuri is the executive vice president and general manager of Nuance’s Healthcare division, overseeing all operational aspects of the business, including innovation strategy, product development, marketing, sales, partnerships, and client relationships across the company’s healthcare solutions portfolio. Under Satish’s leadership, Nuance Healthcare returned to growth from a 4% decline to 9% growth within three years. Satish is passionate about the criticality of purpose-driven culture and leadership to drive business growth. He has more than 28 years of management experience in enterprise software, SaaS solutions, natural language processing (NLP), artificial Intelligence (AI), international operations, global mobile workforces, and cloud services. Prior to joining Nuance in 2012, Satish held several executive leadership positions at global technology companies, including Solera Holdings, Lionbridge Technologies, and Imprivata. Satish holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Andhra University and M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University.